2008/09 Upper Deck Hockey Series 1 Hobby Box break, packs 9-12

This should be a nice way to help ease back into things, the next four packs of that Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey Hobby box I started waaaaay before xmas.  At this rate, I should polish this sucker off just in time for Series 2 to raise it’s head in February.

Pack 9

41 Mike Grier
19 Jiri Tlusty
1 Nicklas Backstrom

70 Nigel Dawes
104 Nick Schultz
183 Manny Fernandez
145 Michael Peca
WC3 Colby Armstrong

Yeah, I got one of those Winter Classic cards, but it’s a bit boring, so we’ll wait for the other one that comes in the box and hope it’s a better one. Dawes is the first Ranger of the box, but I really like that Backstrom card, so he wins.

Pack 10

39 Milan Michalek
8 Roberto Luongo
2 Alexander Semin
43 Marc-Andre Fleury
116 David Booth
103 James Sheppard
194 Chris Kunitz
WC8 Brian Campbell

I almost went with the Luongo, which is another beautiful card, but passed on it so I could show you the Winter Classic card, which I still think looks better without the text on the front.

You know what, here’s Roberto, too…

Nice, huh? After all that Topps Updates and Highlights, this stuff is pure gold. Beautifully photographed gold.

Pack 11

81 Martin Brodeur
10 Mason Raymond
37 Evgeni Nabokov
220 Drew Doughty Young Gun

164 Joe Corvo
141 Pascal Leclaire
101 Marian Gaborik
200 Sidney Crosby checklist

Doughty was the 2nd overall selection in the 2008 draft, and has done alright with the team he has around him. The NHL’s director of Central Scouting called him “a defenseman around which a team is going to build the next 10 years” before the draft, so he has that going for him. As the Kings improve, so should Doughty.

Think that guy in the background knows he’s on a hockey card yet?

Pack 12

31 Manny Legace
91 Ryan Suter
66 Andrej Meszaros
55 Riley Cote
GJ-CC Chris Chelios

181 Tim Thomas
143 Rostislav Klesla
134 Sergei Zubov
151 Ryan Smyth

The first “hit,” and without looking at the checklist, I think you can do a lot worse than a soon to be hall of famer in Chelios.  Plus Upper Deck didn’t scrimp on base cards to make room for him.  Sweet!

Chelios is signed with Detroit this year and playing as a seventh defenseman, which means he’s hardly logging any ice time at all.  The Red Wings did let him play about 2 minutes in this year’s Winter Classic, though, since he grew up in the area.  A classy move from a team I’m otherwise not to fond of.

The box so far:

Base: 85 out of 200 (42.5%)
Young Guns (1:6): 4 out of 50 (8%) – Bogosian, Sbisa, Fistric, Doughty
Game Used: 1 – Chris Chelios
Captains Calling (1:24): 1 – Brendan Morrow
Hat Trick Heroes (1:12): 2 – Joe Sakic, Dany Heatley
Hockey Heroes (1:12): 2 – Sidney Crosby x2
Winter Classic Highlights: 2 – Campbell, Armstrong